


I'm in Love with my Best Friend

by leonardodafic



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Explicit Language, M/M, Misunderstandings, they are both dumb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-16
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2019-08-24 08:45:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16636679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leonardodafic/pseuds/leonardodafic
Summary: Mitch and Auston are in love with each other but neither of them realize it.





	I'm in Love with my Best Friend

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this instead of studying for my Spanish test so y'all better enjoy it (or don't that's cool too).  
> ____ (change in pov).

It had been a rough couple of games on the road for the entire Leafs team but in particular Mitch. Auston could tell it was getting to Mitch, they were best friends after all it’s his duty to know these things. He wanted to cheer him up but it was kind of hard when they weren’t winning and he felt like shit himself.

They were finally going back home though and were going to get to play in front of their home fans which was a relief. They had a day off to rest after the long road trip and then it was game day. Everyone seemed to be feeling a lot better since they were home. Auston had a feeling that they were going to win this one.

They went out and had a strong first period. They only scored once which was Auston’s goal but they stayed in the opposing zone for most of the time. The second and third proved to go the same way and they ended up getting a shutout win. Including three more goals from three different people.

When the team got back into the locker room Auston could feel the relief of everyone including the coaches. It was cause for celebration except they couldn’t because they had a back to back. Auston looked over at Mitch before he left to make sure he was okay. He was smiling with the rest of the team obviously relieved as well but he still was frustrated. Auston invited him over since he could actually try to cheer him up now.

Mitch would never say no to hanging out with Auston so he accepted almost immediately and they walked out together and headed to Auston’s house. When they got there Auston grabbed two beers and handed one to Mitch.

“If you drink this you’re staying here tonight,” Auston said as he handed him the beer.

“That’s fine,” Mitch said taking it.

“So, you wanna tell me what’s up with you?” Auston asked.

“What do you mean?” Mitch asks.

“Quit acting dumb Mitch. I’m your best friend in case you forgot. I know you and I know something is up. So, come on I’m listening,” Auston said.

Mitch sighed really loudly and took a sip of his beer. He looked up at Auston and stared for a minute as if trying to decide what to say.

“I just I haven’t scored in six games and I’ve been playing like shit lately,” Mitch says finally.

“Okay first off you have not been playing like shit. You’ve been contributing in other areas other than scoring. And second everyone has these scoring slumps, it’ll pass,” Auston finished.

“Please. When have you had a scoring slump?” Mitch asked eyebrows raised.

“Are we just pretending that last season didn’t happen?” Auston asked basically roasting himself.

“Oh yeah sorry forgot about that,” Mitch sent an apologetic smile towards him.

“Hey no worries. But you will get past this and start scoring again. In the meantime, just keep doing good stuff everywhere else,” Auston said putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Thanks, Aus,” Mitch said and went in for the hug. They sat there hugging for a good minute before Mitch pulled away and looked up at him.

“I think I’m gonna go to bed now but thanks,” Mitch said yawning.

“Yeah me too actually and it’s what I’m here for,” Auston said.

The next game they won again and Mitch still didn’t score. Auston could tell he was trying to take Auston’s advice and think positive because he had two assists but it was proving to be rather difficult. Some of the guys decided to go out that night including Auston so he figured it would be the perfect distraction for Mitch.

“Hey some of us are going out tonight do you wanna come?” Auston asked.

“Yeah sounds good,” Mitch said after a moment of thinking about it.

“Okay cool. I’ll drive,” Auston said knowing Mitch needs to drink way more than he does.

They meet the other guys at the bar and find a table to sit at. Mitch seemed to be in a happy mood now that he was away from hockey and just hanging out with the boys. Auston did however notice he had been drinking more than he normally does. He wanted to stop him but nobody else seemed to notice so maybe he was just being overprotective of his friend. Later on in the night though when some of the other guys had left and a few were on the dance floor, it was just Mitch and Auston. Mitch was definitely drunk now.

“Have I ever told you that you’re my best friend?” Mitch asked leaning into him a little. Auston instinctively wrapped his arm around him and pulled him in.

“Yeah bud,” Auston chuckled a little.

“I’m really glad you’re here,” Mitch said.

“Mitch, I’m the one that asked you to come out with us tonight,” Auston reminded his drunk friend.

“No, I mean here in Toronto,” Mitch said.

“Oh. Oh, you mean on the team?” Auston asked.

“No. Well yeah but I mean just in Toronto with me,” Mitch said.

Auston froze for a second. What does that even mean? He was about to overanalyze this situation. Then Mitch moved away a little bit and he stopped himself. _Y’all wouldn’t be best friends if you weren’t in Toronto moron that’s it._ Mitch had leaned back towards Auston now though and buried his face in his side and looked like he was about to fall asleep right there.

“Okay let’s get you home bud,” Auston said lifting him up.

Mitch got up reluctantly and followed Auston out the door after telling the guys they were leaving. When Auston finally pulled up to Mitch’s house, Mitch was already half asleep. There was no way he was getting into that house on his own. Auston went around and dragged him out of the car and up to the front door. When he got him inside, Mitch was still leaning heavily on Auston.

“Uh Mitch can you walk to your bed or do I need to bring you there too?” Auston asked.

Mitch just grunted back and leaned even more on Auston if that was even possible. Auston took that as a no and continued to Mitch’s room.

“Okay bud here you go,” Auston said leaning down to place Mitch on his bed.

“Thanks, I love you,” Mitch said so quietly that Auston thought he was hearing things.

He jerked up really quick and stared down at Mitch. Did he really just say what he thought he just said? There’s absolutely no way. Auston was just hearing what he wanted to hear. Plus, Mitch is super drunk right now and none of this means anything. Now Auston was going to overanalyze this.

Mitch said he loved him. Mitch loves Auston. That can’t be right, Mitch has never showed interest before. Maybe he just meant it as a friend thing. Friends say that to each other all the time. Maybe he didn’t say it at all and Auston really was just imagining it. Auston’s never imagined anyone saying anything before and it be so real though. Mitch had to have said it. Okay so Mitch said it but he said it as a friend because Auston just brought him home safely. Because Mitch didn’t feel the same way as Auston did or he would have noticed the endless amount of fucking hints he had thrown at him. Or he would have just been Mitch and told Auston how he felt.  After thinking about this for a good five minutes, Auston realized he was still in Mitch’s house. In Mitch’s room. So, he walked quietly out and locked the door behind him.

* * *

The next morning, Mitch was clearly hungover. They didn’t have practice until later that day though so he was able to get some more rest and try to get rid of the massive headache. When he got to practice later on, he wasn’t feeling the best but he was feeling a lot better than that morning. The big problem though was that he felt like he embarrassed himself in front of Auston maybe said something to him but he couldn’t remember what. He had to find out though so when he got into the locker room, he went straight towards Auston.

“Hey,” Mitch said with a smile.

“Hey, how you feeling?” Auston asked with a smirk.

“Better than this morning,” Mitch said which made Auston chuckle.

“Um hey so did I um say something to you last night?” Mitch asked.

Auston’s face went dark for a second but then he put a smile on his face and looked over at him.

“Nothing you don’t normally say sober,” Auston said.

“Oh, good,” Mitch said visibly relieved.

“Okay see you on the ice,” Auston said and left him.

The whole practice, Auston seemed to avoid Mitch. Mitch thought he was just making a big deal about it at first and it just happened to be a coincidence. Until Mitch started to skate towards Auston and Auston skated right past him like he wasn’t there. Was Auston mad at him? What the hell did he do wrong?

Mitch could not figure it out for the life of him until Mo came up to him with a smirk on his face.

“Had fun last night huh?” Mo asked.

“What do you mean?” Mitch asked.

“Nothing. Nothing. Just you and Auston left together last night,” Mo smirked even harder.

“So? We always leave together,” Mitch said.

“Yeah but y’all just seemed coupley,” Mo said.

“Oh fuck. Did I say something to him? Is that why he’s avoiding me?” Mitch asked panicked.

“Woah calm down Mitch. I don’t think he’s avoiding you,” Mo said.

“He is. And you didn’t answer my question,” Mitch said.

“I don’t think you said anything to him unless it was when y’all left,” Mo shrugged.

“Why would you let me go with him when I was drunk knowing what you know?” Mitch asked quietly.

“You mean knowing that you’re completely in love with him?” Mo laughed.

“Shut up! I am not!” Mitch warned even though Mo was totally right.

“Yeah okay,” Mo said still laughing and skated off.

So what if Mitch was in love with Auston? It wasn’t his fault. It just kind of happened. It was so much simpler when he didn’t realize he was in love with his best friend. There was no going back now though. He already told Mo and Mo made sure to bring it up every chance he got. But not around Auston. Never around Auston. Mo has tried to get Mitch to tell him so many times but there was absolutely no way in hell that he was doing that. For starters, Auston clearly did not feel the same way and Mitch didn’t want to ruin their friendship because of that.

Mitch tried his best to pretend that Auston ignoring him didn’t bug him but it was difficult. He had to have said something last night that made Auston avoid him. He wasn’t acting like this until Mitch brought up last night. Then Auston had that look but said Mitch didn’t say anything. Was it really so embarrassing that Auston didn’t want to speak to him? Mitch tried to rake his brain for any memory of last night until it finally hit him.

He froze dead in his tracks and looked over at Auston. Auston still wasn’t looking at him just like he had been doing the entire practice. And Mitch well Mitch was one hundred percent screwed because he told Auston that he loved him. He told Auston that he loved him and now Auston is avoiding him. Mitch can put two and two together which made him instantly feel like shit because Auston really didn’t feel the same way.

It was Mitch’s turn to avoid Auston. Well it was more of a mutual avoiding on both sides. Auston didn’t try to talk to Mitch and Mitch didn’t try to talk to Auston. It was really good that they didn’t play on the same line because that would have been an absolute shit show. At least this way they wouldn’t be fucking up an entire line.

It was weird though because Auston and Mitch were always together. Arriving together, leaving together, spending almost every minute together. The rest of the team started to notice and kept pestering each of them separately about it. They both gave the same answers; that nothing was wrong with them. Nobody believed them of course and a couple of away games were coming up. That meant if Auston and Mitch didn’t room together, the team would know they were lying so Mitch went to find Auston after their last practice.

“Hey,” Mitch said hesitantly.

“Hey,” Auston said in the same way.

“Um so are we going to room together?” Mitch asked not really sure what he was hoping the answer would be.

“Uh yeah I guess so,” Auston finally said.

“Okay,” Mitch said.

“Okay,” Auston left.

A couple of more days had gone by and Mitch and Auston were still avoiding each other. The away game had gotten here though and that wasn’t really going to be a possibility anymore if in fact they were staying in the same room. They got to the hotel and Auston had gone in first. Mitch walked in and Auston looked over at him.

“Hey,” Auston said.

“Hey,” Mitch said back.

They stayed silent for a while after that, both on their phones. SO maybe they could still avoid each other. Mitch was totally fine with this at first because he didn’t know what he would even say to Auston now that he knows. Then after a few days of being on the road and being that close to Auston all the time without saying a word started to eat at him.

He started to think a lot more about the whole situation. Mitch shouldn’t be avoiding Auston just because he doesn’t feel the same way. And he was pretty sure Auston was just avoiding him because he had no clue how to react to his best friend telling him that he was in love with him. Auston really isn’t the best with feelings and Mitch shouldn’t be holding it against him. They were still best friends he thinks anyway.

Finally, one of the last nights on the road, Mitch couldn’t take it anymore. He had to talk to Auston. Let him know, nothing has to change between them. He got back to the hotel after morning practice and waited for Auston to show up. When he finally did, Mitch took a deep breath and sat down on Auston’s bed.

“Hey can we talk?” Mitch asked.

“Uh yeah. What’s up?” Auston asked slowly.

“So, I know why you’re acting weird,” Mitch held his breath waiting for Auston to answer.

“Um how uh what do you mean?” Auston said a little frantically.

“Look, I don’t see why it has to be weird between us now. We’re still best friends, right?” Mitch asked.

“Yeah of course,” Auston said immediately.

“Okay so can we start acting like it again?” Mitch asked hopeful.

Auston didn’t say anything for a long while. Mitch assumed he was about to say no but then he opened his mouth.

“Yeah. I um missed talking to you,” Auston blurted out.

“I missed talking to you too,” Mitch smiled.

They were finally back to their normal selves. Well as normal as it could be when Auston knew Mitch was in love with him now. Mitch was determined to go back to as normal as possible though. If he couldn’t have Auston in the way he wanted him, staying best friends would have to do. There was no way that he was letting Auston just walk out of his life.

* * *

Auston was trying his best to go back to normal after the talk with Mitch. It was really hard though knowing that Mitch someone figured out that Auston was in love with him. He had no clue how because he hadn’t told anyone but from what he said in their hotel conversation, Mitch clearly knew. And if Mitch knew, he clearly didn’t feel the same way which confirmed his fears yet again. It wasn’t fair to Mitch though to stop talking to him just because he didn’t feel the same. Plus, they were still best friends no matter what. Auston has pretended to not be in love with him for this long, he can keep going until it isn’t true anymore.

It was going great for a while. They were back to normal. Showing up and leaving together and even hanging out again. Then every so often when it would just be the two of them, Auston would get this feeling. Every time he would have to turn away so he wouldn’t just lean in and kiss Mitch. Why did he have to be so careless and let it show that he was in love with him? Why couldn’t he just go back to before when Mitch was clueless to the fact? That was so much easier to do this.

He was trying though and so was Mitch. Although Mitch seemed to be having a lot better time than Auston was. The team went out again one night after an overtime win. Neither Mitch nor Auston decided to drink that night. They were both having a pretty good time actually. Then Mitch went to go get himself a water. Auston realized Mitch hadn’t come back after a while and started to look around. Some of other other guys did too because Zach asked where Mitch was. Mo was the first person to spot him at the bar and Auston’s stomach dropped.

“Oh, shit look at our little Mitch,” Mo said to the table.

“It looks like he’s spitting game over there,” Freddie chimed in.

As if on cue, Mitch and the guy that he had been talking to walked to the dance floor. Auston watched for a few minutes but he couldn’t take it anymore and abruptly got up and left.

* * *

When Mitch came back to the table Auston was nowhere to be seen. He sat down next to Mo and didn’t say anything for a minute. When he couldn’t spot Auston anywhere, he leaned over so Mo could hear him.

“Where’s Auston?” Mitch asked.

“He left,” Mo said back.

“What do you mean he left?” Why?” Mitch asked confused.

“I don’t know. He was watching you and that hot guy dance and then got up and left,” Mo said.

Mitch sat there dumbfounded for a while. Why would Auston care if Mitch was dancing with another guy? It’s not like Auston liked him. It made no sense whatsoever and Mitch wanted to know why. So, he decided that he would ask him at practice the next day. At least he would try. It seemed Auston was back to avoiding Mitch which what the fuck? It all just got more confusing now. First, Auston avoids him because Mitch tells him that he loves him. Now, Auston avoids him because he was dancing with another guy? He had to be missing something but Auston wouldn’t stop being so infuriatingly good at avoiding him and he couldn’t ask.

After practice Mitch decided he would talk to him after he showered. That way there was no place for Auston to go except to their cars. Turns out that wasn’t a good plan at all because when Mitch got out of the shower, Auston was already gone. Mitch wasn’t letting this one go though so he drove to Auston’s house.

When he got there, he didn’t expect to be so nervous. He didn’t even know what he was nervous about. he finally worked up the nerve though and walked to the front door and knocked. Auston opened it a few seconds later.

“Mitch? What are you doing here?” Auston asked.

“Since when do I need an excuse to come to your house?” Mitch asked.

“Um right come in,” Auston said moving aside.

“Look I’m going to be straight forward with you. Why are you avoiding me again?” Mitch asked.

“Who said I was avoiding you?” Auston asked clearly trying to skip over the question.

“Don’t play dumb Auston. Am I missing something here?” Mitch asked.

Auston didn’t answer for a very long time. He just sat there staring back at Mitch. Mitch was actually starting to get nervous again. He knew Auston didn’t like to talk about his feelings but this was something different. He still wasn’t saying anything but Mitch could tell something was wrong.

“Hey are you okay?” Mitch asked putting a hand on his wrist. Auston looked down at the touch and then looked back at Mitch.

“No Mitch I’m not okay,” he said and got up yanking his arm back. Mitch was confused and hurt by that. Auston has never done that before even after the whole bar thing.

“Did I do something?” Mitch asked still confused. Auston laughed. He actually laughed.

“No. the problem isn’t you, it’s me,” Auston said.

“I don’t understand. What’s the problem?” Mitch asked.

“The problem is that I’m in love with you and I can’t pretend to go back to normal,” Auston said not looking at him this time. Mitch didn’t say anything after that. Mainly because his voice had caught in his throat. He felt like he was about to fall over. Auston seemed to notice because he finally turned his head to look at him. Concerned started to show up in his face. Mitch finally snapped out of it.

“Did you just? Did you just say that you’re in love with me?” Mitch asked. It was Auston’s turn to be confused.

“Mitch, you already knew that? It’s why you were avoiding me a couple of weeks ago,” Auston said.

“No that wasn’t why I was avoiding you,” Mitch said trying to process what just happened.

“You said you knew why I was acting weird,” Auston said.

“Yeah because of what I said to you when you brought me home from the bar that night,” Mitch said.

“Wait, you remembered that?” Auston asked.

“Yeah. I told you I loved you and then you stopped talking to me,” Mitch said.

“I- I thought you meant it as a friend and I just needed some time,” Auston said defeated.

“No Auston. I meant it as I’m in love with you,” Mitch looked up at Auston. Auston finally met his eyes for the first time since the conversation started.

“You mean all this time you thought I was avoiding you because I didn’t feel the same way? And you what?” Auston said clearly not processing what is happening right now.

“You sure you didn’t get a concussion from that hit last game?” Mitch asked a little amused.

“Mitch,” Auston said seriously though.

“Matthews would you just shut up and kiss me already?” Mitch smirked.

Auston looked surprised at first but then took a step forward and was kissing him. When they finally broke apart for air Mitch smirked at him again.

“Do you believe me now?” Mitch asked.

“Shut up,” Auston smiled and kissed him again.

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> The flood gates have opened and now I can't stop writing fics.. worth it.


End file.
